Rhode Island man pleads guilty to sex trafficking young girl

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Providence man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to trafficking a 14-year-old girl between Rhode Island and New Jersey to engage in commercial sex.

This guilty plea resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI, the Rhode Island State Police and the Franklin Township (New Jersey) Police Department.

According to information presented to the court, on March 23, 2015, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reported to Rhode Island State Police that they had received a report of a juvenile female from Rhode Island who had allegedly been sexually molested by an adult male and that she was afraid to end the relationship due to threats of bodily harm.

Officers determined that the young female was reported missing on November 20, 2014, from a group home in Rhode Island. Through further investigation, law enforcement learned that the girl had traveled to New Jersey with an individual identified as “Peezy.”

On April 6, 2015, authorities tracked a cell phone in the possession of the missing teenager to Franklin Township, New Jersey. HSI and FBI special agents, and police officers from Franklin Township located the missing girl and Monteiro in a hotel room in Franklin Township. Monteiro was arrested by local police on New Jersey state charges and detained. A court authorized search of a cell phone belonging to Monteiro resulted in the discovery of photographs of the 14-year-old girl that had been posted in advertisements on Backpage.com offering the young victim for commercial sex.

Monteiro, who has been detained since his arrest on April 6, 2015, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on December 22, 2016.